The present invention relates to a stringed instrument and a stringed instrument bridge enabling adjustment of the distance between strings.
An electric guitar includes a body and a neck. Further, an electric guitar includes a head, which is located at a distal end of the neck, and strings, which extend along the surface of the neck. Each string is fixed to the body by a tailpiece and to the neck by a peg. A nut supports each string on the neck near the pegs. A bridge is arranged on the body near the tailpiece to support the strings. The nut supports the strings with the bridge so as to enable vibration of the strings. In such an electric guitar, the guitar is tuned by changing the winding position of each string relative to the associated peg and adjusting the tension applied to the string. There has been a recent proposal for a bridge that enables adjustment of the distance between the strings and the neck (height of the strings) and the distance between the nut and the bridge (length of the strings). Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,126 describes a bridge enabling adjustment of the distance between the strings.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,126, referring to FIG. 14, a first slide piece 103 and a second slide piece 104 are arranged on a bridge base 101. The first slide piece 103 is supported on the bridge base 101 so that the position of the first slide piece 103 is adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the string 102. A projection 103a extends from the upper surface of the first slide piece 103 in a direction orthogonal to the string 102. The second slide piece 104 is movably supported on the projection 103a of the first slide piece 103. The second slide piece 104 has a vertex, which is the point of contact with the string 102. The second slide piece 104 is fastened to the first slide piece 103 by a screw 105. The screw 105 is loosened to enable adjustment of the position of the second slide piece 104. By changing the position of the second slide piece 104 in a state supporting the string 102, the distance between the string 102 and an adjacent string 102 is adjusted. The screw 105 is tightened to fix the second slide piece 104. This prevents abnormal noise from being produced when the electric guitar is played.
Normally, in a guitar having six strings, the distance between adjacent strings 102 is approximately 10 mm. In a bass guitar having four strings, the distance between adjacent strings 102 is approximately 15 to 20 mm. When adjusting the distance between adjacent strings 102 with the stringed instrument bridge described in the above patent, a tool must be inserted into the narrow space between the string 102 and the bridge base 101 to loosen or tighten the screw 105. This makes it difficult to adjust the distance between adjacent strings 102.